Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 December 2013
17 Dec 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Violence against Women
We live in a country that recognises prostitution as violence against women, but we continue to prosecute the abused while letting the perpetrator off scot free. Those who profit from that trade peddle the myth that people choose to be prostituted, and the Government continues to turn a blind eye.
There are many stories, but I will tell just one. A young woman is struggling financially and a friend suggests that she becomes an escort, getting paid for eating out and attending glamorous events. She decides that it might be worth pursuing and signs up with an escort agency. Nobody told her that she was expected to have sex with clients.
She was given details of her first client. She was to meet him in an Edinburgh hotel. She arrived at the hotel only to be told to go up to his room. He expected sex—no glitzy occasion or dinner; just sex. She said no, he became enraged and the escort agency, which she called, told her that she had agreed to that and had to fulfil that part of the contract. She was terrified but complied because she was afraid that she would be seriously hurt if she did not.
She immediately told the agency that she no longer wanted to work with it, but its response was that if she did not continue to prostitute herself it would tell her family and friends that she was a prostitute. She was young, naive and trapped. The escort agency pretence was quickly dispensed with and she worked in a sauna for the most part. They drugged her and hardly paid her, and her life was one of basic slavery. She faced violence and was forced to have sex with clients—she was raped.
She said:
“People are not aware of what happens behind closed doors in the brothel. The minute you walk in you are scarred for life, it’s like being raped 10 times a day and pimps telling you it’s ok. You lose everything: dignity, identity, respect and happiness.”
That is what the Scottish Government is allowing to happen in Scotland today, and what makes it so sad is that it is not a one-off—it is commonplace. Most women who are trapped in that trade are those whom the Government has let down already—those who are living in poverty and have nowhere else to turn, and care leavers who have been abandoned by the state with no fall-back.
There are many stories, but I will tell just one. A young woman is struggling financially and a friend suggests that she becomes an escort, getting paid for eating out and attending glamorous events. She decides that it might be worth pursuing and signs up with an escort agency. Nobody told her that she was expected to have sex with clients.
She was given details of her first client. She was to meet him in an Edinburgh hotel. She arrived at the hotel only to be told to go up to his room. He expected sex—no glitzy occasion or dinner; just sex. She said no, he became enraged and the escort agency, which she called, told her that she had agreed to that and had to fulfil that part of the contract. She was terrified but complied because she was afraid that she would be seriously hurt if she did not.
She immediately told the agency that she no longer wanted to work with it, but its response was that if she did not continue to prostitute herself it would tell her family and friends that she was a prostitute. She was young, naive and trapped. The escort agency pretence was quickly dispensed with and she worked in a sauna for the most part. They drugged her and hardly paid her, and her life was one of basic slavery. She faced violence and was forced to have sex with clients—she was raped.
She said:
“People are not aware of what happens behind closed doors in the brothel. The minute you walk in you are scarred for life, it’s like being raped 10 times a day and pimps telling you it’s ok. You lose everything: dignity, identity, respect and happiness.”
That is what the Scottish Government is allowing to happen in Scotland today, and what makes it so sad is that it is not a one-off—it is commonplace. Most women who are trapped in that trade are those whom the Government has let down already—those who are living in poverty and have nowhere else to turn, and care leavers who have been abandoned by the state with no fall-back.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith)
Lab
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-08612, in the name of Shona Robison, on violence against women. We are incredibly short for time, so memb...
The Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport (Shona Robison)
SNP
On behalf of the Scottish Government, I am delighted to open this debate and to have an opportunity to reaffirm the Government’s unreserved commitment to tac...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
I very much regret the necessity for the debate. I believe that all members across the chamber regret the fact that, in 21st century Scotland, we are still d...
Shona Robison
SNP
Does Jackie Baillie welcome, as I do, the focus that Police Scotland now has on ensuring that repeat offenders are kept under observation?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I absolutely do, and I will talk about Police Scotland in a minute.Scottish Women’s Aid tells us that two women will be murdered each week by their partner o...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
I welcome today’s debate, which has become an annual one because, sadly, the vexing problem of violence against women and children is not diminishing but is,...
Shona Robison
SNP
On the issue of prosecution, does Margaret Mitchell recognise that, where an incident of domestic abuse resulted in a crime or offence being recorded, a repo...
Margaret Mitchell
Con
I acknowledged that increase, and the awareness-raising work, at the beginning of my speech.To its eternal shame, the SNP voted against the amendment to the ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
We come to the open debate. We are extremely tight for time, so I will allow speeches of four minutes. That could change, so it would be helpful if members c...
Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP)
SNP
I take this opportunity to highlight the invaluable work of the many organisations that are involved in helping women and children affected by violence again...
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
I need to ask you to start winding up.
Sandra White
SNP
We have mentioned domestic violence, but we also need to look at the austerity measures that are coming from the Westminster Government, particularly the bed...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I am sorry, Ms White, but you have gone over four minutes.16:33
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
We live in a country that recognises prostitution as violence against women, but we continue to prosecute the abused while letting the perpetrator off scot f...
Sandra White
SNP
I was at the same meeting and met the same people as Rhoda Grant. I listened to them, and not once did those people blame the Scottish Government at all. I a...
Rhoda Grant
Lab
I am not talking about the content of the meeting that Sandra White and I attended—that was from someone who spoke to me.The Scottish Government had the oppo...
Maureen Watt (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
The Presiding Officer
NPA
The member is just winding up.
Rhoda Grant
Lab
Scotland will end up becoming a haven for prostitution, for gangsters and for traffickers who see us as being complicit in the trade. At some point, somebody...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I am sorry, but your time is up, Ms Grant.16:37
James Dornan (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP)
SNP
It is important to recognise that, although we have taken huge strides towards eliminating violence against women and towards changing a culture that had acc...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
You need to bring your remarks to a close.
James Dornan
SNP
The only thing on which I agree with Margaret Mitchell is the hope that this is not an annual debate.16:41
Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
The phrase “violence against women” is made up of three little words, but involves so much pain. It encompasses domestic abuse, rape, child sexual abuse, sex...
Christina McKelvie (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP)
SNP
There are two distinct but entwined threads in this debate. The first is that men’s violence against women continues to blight our country and to cause immen...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Will you start winding up, Ms McKelvie?
Christina McKelvie
SNP
A further 141 cases were reported to the national sex crimes unit but had not been in court. The situation creates a double negative, in that judges do not s...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab)
Lab
The motion reminds us of“the valuable contribution that voluntary and third sector organisations have made to the shaping of Scotland’s approach to violence ...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
You need to bring your remarks to a close.
Malcolm Chisholm
Lab
Violence against women is a profound societal and cultural problem, but it is also perpetuated and reinforced by many of the products of that culture, which ...